Adding chicks to a few leghorn teens

[gemd]

Poor Snowflake got eaten by my hound gonna move my coop if I can but anyway...I now have only 5 leghorn teens (almost old enough to lay), 4 hens and a rooster. Can I add some sex link week oldchicks? Will they be ok outdoors now (Texas)?

 

[Pghelp]

With week old chicks I would isolate for 2 weeks anyway for the safety of your existing birds just to make sure you're not introducing nasties. Then I would do the see - no touch for a while. Our Leghorn juveniles, 2 months old, are the most aggressive as far as diving for food. They beat out the other birds who just have to wait until they're done. I would also worry there's too much age difference to introduce without supervision. There are several great threads on BYC about introducing young ones to an existing flock. There's too much danger of the young ones being pecked or even killed in my opinion.

 

[aart]

Poor Snowflake got eaten by my hound gonna move my coop if I can but anyway......Can I add some sex link week oldchicks? Will they be ok outdoors now (Texas)?

You can't just toss them in there, in case that's what you were thinking.
How big is your coop and run, in feet be feet?
Dimensions and pics would help here.
I assume you fixed the coop so dog can't get at them?
Here how I and a couple others are.....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

..I now have only 5 leghorn teens (almost old enough to lay), 4 hens and a rooster.

FYI.....semantics, maybe, but can be important communication terms when discussing chicken behavior.
Female chickens are called pullets until one year of age, then they are called hens.
Male chickens are called cockerels until one year of age, then they are called cocks(or cockbirds or roosters).
Age in weeks or months is always a good thing to note.

 

[Mrs. K]

Yes you can do it, but it does take some preparation. You need a safety zone. An area that the chicks can escape to effortlessly, but the big girls can't follow. Start with the see no touch, a small pen inside the coop. I use a small dog crate for the day time shelter and have it connected to the safety zone. My chicks go in there at night, I shut the door and put it in the coop.

After a few days of see no touch, then lift the fencing up a couple of inches so that the chicks can explore if they want. Let them do it on their terms.

Do provide hideouts in the run, pallets close to the ground, where big chickens can't follow them.

Mrs K